It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the 24-hour news cycle and constant social media discourse. Here’s everything you need to know about the controversy around Columbia University and student protests.
What is going on with Columbia University’s protests?
On March 4, President Donald Trump made a statement on social media about protests and the allocation of funds to educational institutes.
All federal funding will STOP for any College, School or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!
According to Reuters, a Trump spokesperson did not respond to questions about how the White House defines an illegal protest.
Since the rise in pro-Palestinian protests, the Trump administration has claimed that Columbia University is not protecting students and faculty from antisemitism. While some feel that the focus of the protests is to criticize the Israeli government, in a New York Times article, some Jewish students said that they are afraid to walk on campus.
On March 7, $400 million in federal funding for Columbia was canceled. The government offered a renegotiation of the funding after certain demands were met.
Two weeks later on March 21, Columbia agreed to some of the demands in order to renegotiate funding. Reuters explained that the Trump administration asked the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies departments to be placed on academic receivership, which would take away control from current faculty. Columbia did not talk about receivership specifically, but they announced they would appoint new leadership to ensure programs within the department are balanced. This has led to criticism of the university.
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
You may have seen the name Mahmoud Khalil on social media recently because people are trying to raise awareness about his situation. Khalil, 30, is a Columbia University graduate student from Syria who earned a master’s degree at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs after moving to the U.S. in 2022.
According to BBC news, Khalil was a prominent figure in pro-Palestinian protests in the spring of 2024. He denies claims that he is a leader of the student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest and said that he was only a mediator between the university and a spokesperson for protestors.
Although he is a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record, the U.S. government is trying to deport him using the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 because they claim that he distributed pro-Hamas propaganda and organized protests that harassed Jewish students. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
How does the Department of Education fit into this?
On March 21, Trump signed an executive order dismantling the Department of Education after criticizing the department for being wasteful and “woke.” The Associated Press explained that the department has been responsible for the distribution of aid to low-income schools as well as enforcing discrimination laws. Although the executive order was signed, eliminating the department requires an act of Congress.
What does this mean for PSU?
On March 10, the Department of Education published a list of 60 public and private universities that are under investigation for antisemitic discrimination and harassment and could face penalties. Penn State is not on the list, but it is a public university that relies on federal funding.
These universities are not the only ones to have student-led pro-Palestinian protests in the conflict in Gaza. Penn State Students for Justice in Palestine is an organization that has organized protests dating back to October 2023 according to their Instagram page.
Last October, students held a memorial for Palestinians on the HUB lawn, and some students defaced it by removing flags and riding bicycles through the memorial. When some students confronted the students who defaced the memorial, they were met with slurs and racism. Videos of the interaction went viral, which caused the university to make a statement denouncing the destruction of the memorial and the hate speech that followed.
This type of behavior has no place on our campuses or anywhere in our society. We firmly denounce all forms of hate and hurtful, biased, and racist speech meant to denigrate and insult any group of individuals.
Penn State Students for Justice in Palestine organized a protest on March 19 in response to recent Israeli attacks on Gaza. In an article by The Daily Collegian, students focused the protest on Penn State being complicit in the conflict. At this time, Penn State has not commented on the protest.
What are your thoughts on student protests? Let us know @VALLEYMag on X!
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